Michel Dumas, the last remaining relic generally associated with the Bill Wirtz / Bob Pulford era of Blackhawks hockey, has moved on.

Dumas, 65, briefly served as Tony Esposito’s backup on the Hawks during the mid-70’s. Dumas suffered a career-ending right eye injury during a game against Colorado at Chicago Stadium on December 26, 1976. With his playing career over, he was given a job by Bill Wirtz as an amateur scout the very next season.

Dumas tenure on the Blackhawks scouting staff spanned the next 37 years. This lead to a running joke in circles for many years that the Blackhawks top scout was ‘legally blind.’

In 1992, Dumas would be promoted to Chief Amateur Scout. He held that position until Bruce Franklin, who has been on the Hawks scouting staff now for over 20 years, took over from Dumas in 2010. Read more »

Bergevin is well-liked by virtually everyone. He served as the team’s director of player personnel for two years, a position he moved into the day after Dale Tallon was “re-assigned.” This will be Bergevin’s seventh year with the team. After Denis Savard was removed from the coaching position and Joel Quenneville was hired, Bergevin was made a third assistant coach. Prior to that he was pro scout.

“As an organization we’re fortunate to have the depth of talent available that allows us to promote from within,” Stan Bowman said of Bergevin’s promotion in a Wednesday press release.

Bergevin, who turns 46 in August, was drafted by the Hawks in 1983 (59th overall) and spent his first four full seasons with the Hawks before being sent to the New York Islanders with Gary Nylund in exchange for center Bob Bassen and defenseman Steve Konroyd on November 25, 1988. In his 20-year playing career, Bergevin spent a year on the Island before bouncing from Hartford, Tampa Bay (2x), Detroit, St. Louis (2x), Pittsburgh (2x) and finally Vancouver.

Bergevin won’t have much time to adapt to his new role and will be under fire quickly as the period for qualifying restricted free agents is a week away and then free agency a week after that.

Just as big of news coming out Wednesday is the announcement that Scotty Bowman will be staying on as Senior Advisor. His three-year contract was coming due and has been extended. It was not made clear for how long.

With Bergevin moving up, Norm Maciver was promoted into the role as Director of Player Personnel. Maciver was previously Director of player development. MacIver had a big influence on the acquisition of Nick Leddy.

The only other change involves Kyle Davidson, who was brought on as video coach this past season, replacing Brad Aldrich. Davidson will now serve in a new role as Hockey Administration Coordinator, which is apparently different from Ian Gentile’s role (Hockey Operations Coordinator). Read more »